make secret key auto generate and write into .env if it does not already exist, otherwise use exsiting key

Author: Obada Haddad

pyproject.toml

@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ dependencies = [
     "django-filter==25.1",
     "django-cors-headers==4.9.0",
     "nh3==0.3.3",
+    "configobj==5.0.9",
 ]
 
 [tool.uv]

src/settings/base.py

@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
 from celery import signals
 import dj_database_url
 from .logs_loguru import configure_logging
+from django.core.management.utils import get_random_secret_key
+import configobj
 
 
 BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
@@ -125,7 +127,25 @@
 USE_I18N = True
 USE_L10N = True
 USE_TZ = True
-SECRET_KEY = os.environ.get("SECRET_KEY", '(*0&74%ihg0ui+400+@%2pe92_c)x@w2m%6s(jhs^)dc$&&g93')
+
+# =============================================================================
+# Secret key (generate one if none is given, otherwise use given key)
+# =============================================================================
+# This is needed when the secret key is generated for the first time as it won't be loaded as an environment variable
+config = configobj.ConfigObj('.env')
+with open(".env", "a+") as f:
+    secret_key_count = 0
+    f.seek(0)
+    for x in f:
+        if "SECRET_KEY=" in x and x[0] == "S":
+            secret_key_count = 1
+            SECRET_KEY = os.environ.get("SECRET_KEY", config['SECRET_KEY'])
+            break
+    if secret_key_count == 0:
+        SECRET_KEY = get_random_secret_key()
+        f.write(f"SECRET_KEY='{SECRET_KEY}'")
+f.close()
+
 LOGIN_REDIRECT_URL = '/'
 LOGOUT_REDIRECT_URL = '/'